See Update No. 3 at the end of this post on capture of suspect, alleged accessories and the charges they face.

See Update Nos. 1 and 2 with more murder details, suspect mugshots, the rented getaway car and its recovery and the victim's I.D.

ORIGINAL POST, SEPT. 4, 9:52 A.M.: A man was fatally stabbed in a residence in the 1100 block of Atlanta Way in Costa Mesa early this morning, and while police have not yet identified him, they have named a suspect.

He is 38-year-old Adolph GuadalupeMireles, who was still wanted as this was posted.
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No further details or descriptions have been provided, but a police spokesman promises more blanks will be filled in at a press briefing later today.

UPDATE NO. 1, SEPT. 4, 12:35 P.M.: The Costa Mesa Police Department has just released more details about this morning's fatal stabbing and photos of still-outstanding murder suspect Adolph Guadalupe Mireles of Huntington Beach and the rented vehicle he is believed to have fled in.

According to a statement from police Lt. Tim Schennum, investigators have determined the dead man, a Long Beach 43-year-old whose name will be released once his next of kin is notified, was visiting a girlfriend on Atlanta Way near Fairview Road.

“Mireles, who was recently released from prison, also had a relationship with the female,” according to Schennum. “Mireles gained entry into the location by unknown means and confronted the victim. There is evidence of a violent struggle. At some point during the altercation Mireles armed hìmself with a knife and inflicted the wounds.”

Now on the run, “Mireles is considered an armed and dangerous homicide suspect,” states Schennum, who asks anyone with information about the stabbing or suspect whereabouts to call Costa Mesa Police Detective Jose Morales at 714.754.5356, Sgt. Ed Everett at 714.754.5295 or the Investigations Bureau at 714.754.5205.

UPDATE NO. 2, SEPT. 5, 5:12 P.M.: The Costa Mesa Police
Department has identified the man stabbed to death in the northwest part of the city Tuesday morning as Robert Jay Liken, 43, of Long Beach.

The rented Corolla murder suspect Adolph Mireles is believed to have driven away from the crime scene was recovered late Tuesday night in northwest Long Beach with the help of that city's police department, according to the statement from Lt. Tim Schennum, the Costa Mesa Police public information officer.

No weapon has been found, and police still ask anyone with information on the murder or Mireles' whereabouts to call one of the Costa Mesa contact numbers in the previous update.[UPDATE NO. 3, SEPT. 24, 11:47 A.M.: Mireles is now being held without bail as he faces one felony count of
murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly
weapon.

He was arrested by Costa Mesa Police detectives as he left a Santa Fe Springs motel last Tuesday, and a statement from prosecutors claims the Huntington Beach 38-year-old had help while on the lam.

Mireles, wearing a hat and sunglasses to conceal his identity, was with his girlfriend, Madelyn Isabel Martinez, 43, of Costa Mesa, at the time of his arrest, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA).

Martinez was popped for allegedly helping Mireles avoid arrest since the Sept. 4 murder, hiding out with him in motels in Norwalk, Buena Park and Santa Fe Springs, says the OCDA.

Also with Mireles in the latter motel was Balraj Singh, 41,
of Northridge, who along with Martinez faces one felony count of accessory after the
crime. If convicted, they could get up to three years in
state prison, the OCDA reports, adding each was initially held on $50,000 bail.

Mireles, who faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to
life in the joint, allegedly saw Liken sleeping on Martinez's couch in Costa Mesa and started a fight that resulted in the visitor being stabbed fatally before fleeing in the rental car.

A previous statement from the Costa Mesa Police Department fills in more holes but differs on Singh's reason for beind jailed. It reads, in part:

Costa Mesa Police Detectives have pursued multiple leads, contacting and interviewing multiple persons in the search for Mireles throughout Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Information received focused the investigation into Mireles' whereabouts to motels in the vicinities of Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and Buena Park, near the Interstate 5 freeway.

Ultimately, detectives observed a subject matching Mireles' general description at the Dynasty Suites Motel in the 13000 block of Firestone Blvd. in Santa Fe Springs. That subject, wearing a cap and sunglasses in an attempt to conceal his identity, was observed coming out of a room at the motel in the company of a woman detectives recognized as Madelyn Martinez, the same woman that both Mireles and the victim, Robert Liken, had a relationship with, and whom Liken was spending the night with at the residence in Costa Mesa when confronted and assaulted by Mireles.

As both were preparing to get into a vehicle to leave the location, detectives converged, detaining both and confirmed Mireles' identity. He was taken into custody without incident. Martinez was subsequently also arrested as an accessory after the fact, in that additional investigation indicates that she had been assisting Mireles as he has attempted to avoid capture these past two weeks.

Two additional subjects, a male identified as Balraj Singh, age 41 (last address in Newport Beach) and a female identified as Catherine Skene, age 26 (last address in Anaheim Hills) were contacted in the same motel room Mireles and Martinez had come from. Both Singh and Skene were also detained, initially arrested as possible accessories, and interviewed by detectives. Skene was later released pending further investigation for a determination of potential criminal violations. Singh, though like Skene, was not held further pending further investigation, was held on an unrelated probation offense.

Adolph Mireles had been released from jail earlier this year after serving a sentence for drugrelated violations, and ordered to report to the Probation Department for mandatory supervision.

At the time Liken was murdered, Mireles was already wanted for failing to report to the Probation Department as ordered.

Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the paper’s first calendar editor. He went on to be managing editor, executive editor and is now senior staff writer.